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Lucy Lyon: I want to help save the world, but only if it costs me less
IN an ideal word, surely we would all try and live a greener life?
Apart from Jeremy Clarkson and the other dinosaurs continuing to deny climate change, there can be few people who do not realise that the future of the planet lies in our hands and we must all try and do our bit to protect the environment.
Even those who remain unconvinced about the eco-political debate must surely be tempted into greener ways by the impact such measures can have on their ever-soaring energy bills.
As the owner of a draughty Victorian pile in Hull, I would love to not only make it more eco-friendly as a smug testament to my commitment
to the planet, I would also like to see a difference in the hefty demands for more money to keep the house warm and lit that keep landing on my doormat.
As a family we, of course, already do what we can to both save energy and keep our costs down: appliances are turned off at the socket, lights are turned off when we leave rooms, we turn off the water as we brush our teeth.
Even so, I realise that in the big scheme of things we have far to go and, like many people, I have half-heartedly toyed with the idea of solar panels on the roof, harnessing wind power from my garden or even installing ground source heat pumps.
However, the simple fact of the matter is that no matter how much the experts claim I will save over the course of 20 or more years, the initial cost involved in any of these emission-reducing measures
is prohibitive.
Even improving the insulation in a house over 100 years of age – still with its original rattling sash windows and echoing attics – can be a bigger expense than you would imagine.
When we first moved into the house, which we loved for its period features and sense of history but realised was going to disdainfully suck the heat out of the solitary feeble boiler, we attempted to improve our abysmal eco-rating by re-insulating the loft.
The friendly surveyor took one look and told us not to bother: we had, he said, a mixture of about three different types of insulation (including layers of news-papers from, presumably, a much simpler time), all of which would need to be removed for fire safety reasons before any modern improvements could be made. It would be, he advised, messy, expensive and, in a house such as ours, barely worth the bother for the minimal saving that could be made.
In terms of becoming a family of eco-warriors, it seemed we had failed abysmally.
We can take solace, however, in the fact it appears we are not alone in our feeble attempts at going green.
For yesterday, the Government announced a new scheme designed to help families such as ours to reduce our household emissions without the initial expensive outlay.
The Home Energy Pay As You Save scheme is being piloted in four areas of the country and will allow householders to spread the cost of installation of home energy devices over a long enough period of time that the repayments will remain less than their original projected fuel bills.
While I greet all such announcements with a heavy degree of scepticism –particularly those launched on the first day of an international summit to discuss climate change – it does seem, on the face of it, an admirable scheme.
In one simple swoop, carbon and financial reductions will be made for those involved immediately: a win-win situation surely?
However, with just 500 households out of the UK's 22 million taking part in the pilot it also seems like it could just turn out to be yet another of those lofty ideals that this government is fantastic at proposing but spectacularly bad at implementing when the numbers start failing to add up.
Unfortunately for us, Yorkshire is not one of the designated pilot areas so we will have to wait with bated breath to see whether we, too, will eventually be allowed access to the scheme. It could be a long time indeed before we see windmills in every garden and solar panels on every roof.
In an ideal world, I would love to be living a greener life – but in total truth only if it is going to cost me less to do so.
Lucy Lyon is a freelance writer from Hull and mother-of-three.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 8 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
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Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
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